FEATURE:
The Cream of the Crop
IN THIS PHOTO: Ginger Baker/PHOTO CREDIT: Alexis Maryon
Saying Goodbye to the Legendary Ginger Baker: The Playlist
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IT is inevitable we have to say goodbye…
to so many music icons because, as we all know, life is that most capricious of beasts. Many of us were waking up to the news that the iconic Ginger Baker had died at the age of eighty. Whether you are explicitly familiar or not with his work, you would have heard his drumming skills deployed through the years. Not only did Baker co-found the band, Cream; his sterling and prolific work through the 1960s gained him the reputation as one of Rock’s best drummers. In fact, it could be said Baker was the first true Rock drumming superstar! Whereas some percussionists have a limited style in terms of influence and pace, Baker bonded African rhythms with Jazz influences and that unique combination of tones. Having picked up the sticks as a teen, Baker joined Blues Incorporated in the 1960s and met bass player Jack Bruce at that time.
IN THIS PHOTO: Ginger Baker with Baker-Gurvitz Army in the mid-1970s/PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Fuller/Redferns
They were sometimes at loggerheads, but the two provided the rhythm section for the Graham Bond Organisation and, importantly, Cream – Baker co-founded the band with Eric Clapton. Cream only survived a couple of years and, as has been noted by so many people, Baker’s volatile temper could get the better of him! I have been looking online at the tributes and recollections. Many have interviewed him and say that, whilst he was fascinating to speak with, he was a bit sharp and direct – or he was someone who did not suffer fools and was keen to air his thoughts! Like so many musical geniuses, Baker was a complex figure. We must remember what a pioneering drummer he was and how important he will remain. You can look at his Wikipedia page to see the drums and cymbals he used; how his career progressed and, indeed, why he is so revered.
IN THIS PHOTO: Ginger Baker performing in Rotterdam, Netherlands on 28th November, 2015/PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Van Breukelen/Redferns
Before ending with a playlist of his best moments, I want to bring in a couple of articles published today that pay tribute to Ginger Baker. This, from The Guardian tracks his career post-Cream and turbulent moments:
“Baker moved to Nigeria in 1971 and set up the Batakota recording studio in Lagos, which hosted local musicians as well as established stars (McCartney’s band Wings recorded part of Band on the Run there). He performed with Nigerian star Fela Kuti – “he understands the African beat more than any other westerner,” said Kuti’s drummer Tony Allen – and went on to collaborate or perform with a hugely varied array of musicians: Public Image Ltd, Hawkwind, hard rock band Baker Gurvitz Army, and jazz performers Max Roach, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. In 1994, he formed a jazz trio with Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell.
He had spells living in Italy, California, Colorado and South Africa, and developed a passion for polo. In 2008, when living in South Africa, he was defrauded of more than £30,000 by a bank clerk he had hired as a personal assistant. He also suffered from various health issues, including respiratory illness and osteoarthritis, and underwent open heart surgery in 2016. “God is punishing me for my past wickedness by keeping me alive and in as much pain as he can,” he said in 2009.
That wickedness perhaps included his notorious temper – “I used to be mean – I’d deliberately mess up recording sessions with my temper and go mad at the slightest thing,” he said in 1970. He was married four times – “If a plane went down and there was one survivor, it would be Ginger. The devil takes care of his own,” first wife Elizabeth Ann Baker said in 2009 – and used heroin on and off since the mid-60s: he told the Guardian in 2013 that he relapsed “something like 29 times”.
A documentary, Beware of Mr Baker, was made about his life in 2012. He is survived by his three children, Kofi, Leda and Ginette”.
In this feature from Rolling Stone, it is clear Baker influenced so many others and, even though he struggled with debt and addiction, he kept playing and remained an extraordinary force:
“Regardless of how Baker felt about his influence, countless hard-rock drummers consider him one of the greatest players in history. “His playing was revolutionary — extrovert, primal, and inventive,” Rush drummer Neil Peart told Rolling Stone in 2009. “He set the bar for what rock drumming could be. I certainly emulated Ginger’s approaches to rhythm — his hard, flat, percussive sound was very innovative. Everyone who came after built on that foundation. Every rock drummer since has been influenced in some way by Ginger — even if they don’t know it.”
It took watching his good friend Jimi Hendrix die after a debauched night on the town together for Baker to finally kick hard drugs. Feeling he couldn’t pull that off in Europe, he packed up and traveled to Africa, teaming up with Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti for his classic 1971 LP, Live! (“He understands the African beat more than any other Westerner,” Afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen told RS in 2016.) Baker developed a lifelong love of polo, but he was far removed from the rock scene — now a huge business thanks to groundbreaking groups like Cream — and he began slowly descending back into severe drug addiction, crippling his career.
Throughout the late 1970s, Eighties, and Nineties, Baker traveled the world, working with nearly anyone who would hire him, constantly struggling to pay the bills and stay sober. He played with Hawkwind, Public Image LTD, and the hard-rock group Masters of Reality before teaming up with Bruce once again in BBM, a short-lived power trio that also included guitarist Gary Moore. In 1993, Baker was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of Cream.
In 2012, Baker was the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary Beware of Mr. Baker, directed by Jay Bulger off a 2009 feature story he wrote for Rolling Stone. Bulger had lived with Baker in South Africa for the story and would later return to finish the film, which would go on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the South by Southwest Film Festival. (“Some of it is very good and some of it is annoying,” Baker told Rolling Stone of the film in 2013.) Asked if his life had changed following the release of the documentary, the typically terse Baker replied, “No.”
Throughout his career, Baker always insisted that it was his collaborators who informed his playing, regardless of genre. “I’ve never had a style,” Baker said of his drumming philosophy on a 2013 episode of The Jazz Show With Jamie Cullum. “I play to what I hear, so whoever I’m playing with, what they play has a great influence on what I play, because I listen to what people are playing”.
Ginger Baker meant so many different things to different people. So many have paid tribute to him today. Paul McCartney posted a tweet, and musicians from around the world have underlined just how impactful Baker was to them. Music fans such as myself recognise him as one of the greatest drummers ever and, as so often it is the frontmen and women who are celebrated and put in the spotlight, Baker gave a voice to drummers who, more often than not, are given less credit and attention than they deserve! He was one of a kind and someone who will be remembered for generations to come. His work will resonate through time, and he has helped influence artists and change music. Such a unique player and wonderful performer, it is clear there will never be another…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
LIKE the marvellous Mr. Ginger Baker!